Pet foods are generally manufactured and available in dry, moist and semi-moist formulations. Pet foods may be prepared from proteinaceous materials such as meat, including meat by-products or fish. Pet foods can further be formed from a combination of farinaceous materials, such as wheat or other grains, or proteinaceous materials. While flavorings and aroma modifiers are used to improve palatability, uncoated pet foods often suffer from lack of appeal to consumers. Other disadvantages of the current components of pet foods include undesirable color, unpleasant odor and hard cores that do not appear to be real meat products.
Several attempts for improving the palatability of pet food to pets and consumer appeal of pet food have been undertaken. One such attempt provides for a farinaceous core that is covered with a coating of slurried liver, which is then dried on the surface for the core to improve the palatability of the final product and to impart a gloss to the product.
In another attempt, an animal food product comprising a palatability enhancing material is applied to a nutritionally balanced animal food product as a dusting in order to enhance the palatability of the pet food product.
While much effort has been made to produce an appealing meat product that is attractive and easy to access and manage by a pet and palatable to a pet, the need still remains for a pet food product that shows the coherence exhibited by natural meat products with improved texture in the core and overall product while still maintaining appeal to a consumer and ease of access for a pet.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pet food product that is a desirable appearance to a consumer and easy to access and manage by a pet. This pet food product allows for a product that is attractive in appearance, provides improved texture, conceals odor, forms an ergonomically improved pet food product and enables softness to a pet food product.